Genma Saotome's Time and Space Mis-Adventures 04: Frankenstein 12
by The Altered Destinies
Summary: Genma's travels through time have just hit a snag in the Black Forest, but...who is this who stumbles into his camp to become his newest apprentice? Would you believe a student who was literally made for the job of being a Martial Artist...?
1. Chapter 1

Frankenstein 1/2

"GENMA SAOTOME'S TIME AND SPACE MISADVENTURES!"

By Jim Robert Bader

Part One.

(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi &amp;  
Mary Wolstoncraft Godwin Shelley)

1816-Austrian Countryside:

There was a storm outside when Mary Wolstoncraft Shelly chanced to look up from styling her hair to catch a reflection in the mirror. At first she thought it was just a shadow, a trick of the light, but when the lightning flash played off some ominously sinister features...well...that was the point where she felt that she had eaten too many canap s before bedtime. There certainly was no way that anyone could be standing there, it simply had to be a figment of her imagination.

Said figment was not there when the next lightning flash occurred, so-  
reassured that the horrific vision was not for real-she returned to the more serious business of making herself presentable for when her husband, Shelley would be greeting her in bed in another hour or so, once he and Lord Byron were done swapping lies and trying to impress each other with poetry recitations.

Of course the image refused to go away no matter how hard she tried to banish it, of a giant form nearly eight feet in height with sallow-green-tinged skin and a face that could stop a clock at a dozen paces. How odd to have a vision of such a face on a night such as this, when she had participated in a little parlor game with Byron, Shelley, Hunt and Elizabeth, trading stories like errant children trying to frighten one another with whatever horrific ghost story they could think up. It had all seemed perfectly morbid, yet harmless, a mere diversion to while away a dull evening while thunder and lightning rained outside, spoiling any chance for a little romantic star gazing together.

The problem was that, when it came her turn to tell a story, Mary's formidable imagination quite remarkably failed her. With all her considerable literary skills she hardly was the type who actively believed in ghosts, goblins and fairies, and to tell quite implausible stories about them seemed to her in very poor taste. Being part of the rationalist movement at heart, she simply found it hard to conceive of anything more horrific than the evils that ordinary people could do to one another, the recently concluded Napoleonic wars, for example...

Her imagination came to life just then, for she thought she saw something huge slip by out of her peripheral vision, a form moving so lithely on its feet that it indeed appeared to be a shadow. By the time she had fully turned around it was gone from sight, but not before she caught a glimpse of the door to her chamber closing on its own, though there was no wind in the room, other than the passage of a breeze that played lightly about her high cheekbones.

For a moment Mary just sat there and stared in disbelief, feeling her heart hammering in her breast as she summoned up the courage to investigate, wondering just what it was that had crept silently past her in search of her bath chamber. Mary had recently quitted herself of the scented waters that she had left standing for the servants to later empty. It crossed her mind that whoever was in there now intended on using her bath, but why anyone would feel compelled to use stealth rather than asking...

Curiosity got the better of her, and without a word Mary stood up and tip-toed over to the bath chamber, pausing to cautiously open the door without making a sound, just wide enough that she could stare through it and see who it was who had been making such an enormous shadow.

She nearly gave out a cry of alarm, because a virtual giant filled the space before her eyes, impossibly huge, so large he had to duck his head rather than strike it against the ceiling, and he was indeed facing her bath with his back to the door as though contemplating the bathing water, then without a word he raised two massive hands and held them in front of himself, murmuring softly to himself in a deep, resonant voice, though the words he uttered were clearly in a foreign language.

The next thing she knew, Mary was gasping in amazement as the man's body began to crackle with sparks, a weird light surrounding him in a coruscating blue-  
white fire, bolts of electricity lancing about the room as he brought his hands forward and shot electricity into the water.

A few moments later the fire died away, and the cold waters of the tub began steaming. With a grunt of satisfaction, the giant then proceeded to shrug off a fur coat that looked like it had been taken straight off a large bear, then to Mary's amazement he began to shed the rest of his clothing, revealing a body that was powerfully built and yet criss-crossed with scars and stitches, as if the whole of his body were a patchwork of mismatched parts rudely assembled together...and yet WHAT A BODY! Mary's eyes got ever larger the more she took his dimensions in, and then when he started to move forward she got a better glimpse at the rest of his equipment and...

"Oh my..." she murmured faintly, wondering whether or not to faint in a properly ladylike manner.

To her amazement the giant stepped into the tub, which was scarcely large enough to accommodate his huge frame, then settled in with a grunt of satisfaction, causing water to overflow the banks as he soaked in the heat and seemed to relish the sensation.

Mary debated what to do about the matter, whether to scream in alarm or to remain where she was rather than risk alerting the man to her nearness. He had long and scraggly brown hair, his face turned away from her, yet clearly the source of that horrific vision she had witnessed illuminated by lightning. She waited and watched as the man remained sitting in the tub, the water no doubt cooling itself down to room temperature as he body soaked in the heat, growing gradually colder the longer he remained there...

And then the most amazing thing happened...before her very eyes Mary saw the giant begin to shrink inward on himself, his hair altering color from brown to reddish gold and lengthening considerably, even as his shoulders grew slender and he began to settle in more comfortably in the bathwater. A moment later there was no giant at all but rather a form that was distinctly feminine and of normal coloration. Mary found it hard to believe that such a transformation was even possible, and yet the evidence before her eyes was irrefutable...her mysterious guest was some manner of changeling!

She started to back away when her foot encountered the edge of her nightgown, tripping her up slightly as she stumbled to her knees, making quite a bit of noise as she gasped and complained out of an automatic reflex.

The redhead in the tub whirled about and said, "Who's that? Who's there?"

When Mary did not reply she vaulted out of the tub, grabbed up a dingy shirt in passing and came bursting out of the room, finding Mary looking up at her in astonishment that bordered on panic. As Mary started to open her mouth in a belated attempt to cry out she suddenly found the nearly-nude woman had clamped a hand over her face to prevent her from issuing anything more than a light grunting.

"Don't try to talk, Lady," this stranger insisted, "I'm sorry if I bothered you, but you don't need to be afraid of me, I won't hurt you, honest!"

Mary eyed the redhead dubiously but reluctantly gave up on fighting for her freedom. Whoever this was, she had Mary dead to rights and there was little to be gained from putting up even a token of resistance. More to the point, this stranger's grip was like nothing else she had ever experienced before, and the strength of her arms was nothing less than superhuman! It was plain enough that if she intended Mary any bodily harm that this stranger could snap her in two with very little effort!

"Look, I'm just a wanderer passing through this territory, and I needed a quick bath," the stranger continued, "And since this chateau was on my way out from this berg, I just wanted to stop in and get out again without causing you any trouble. Now...I'll let you go, but no screaming, okay? If you scream, then I'm gonna have to knock you out and tie you up for morning. Won't do any good anyway...the men you're with are all downstairs as drunk as fish and twice as useless."

Drunk? That caused Mary to frown a little. Shelly did have a tendency to overindulge a bit in the Opium and Spirits when he and Byron got into a "pissing contest," as they sometimes crudely defined it...more like two overgrown schoolboys daring one another to come up with the most outrageous lies, and to do it with rhyme and meter, while they both got so sloshed that they wound up no use to anybody. Hunt was a bit more restrained about his drinking, but in the company of those two "rowdy gentlemen" he might well get roped in and wake up in the morning after a real bender.

Too bad for Elizabeth, and even worse for Mary!

So her fear became annoyance, an expression that the strange redheaded girl seemed to easily translate as she took her hand away from Mary's mouth, looking ready to replace that hand should her captive give even a hint about preparing to scream bloody murder. Instead, much to the stranger's surprise, Mary just looked at her crossly and said, "You could have tried asking first."

"Lady...believe me," the stranger huffed, "If I'd tried asking you a few minutes ago, you wouldn't have said yes on a bet."

"Why?" Mary asked, "Because you were that giant?"

That took the stranger by surprise, who almost backed away in dismay before saying, "What are you...?"

"I saw you change," Mary replied, "Right before my eyes...most incredible, that. How was this accomplished?"

"Uh...would you believe me if I said...Magic?" the redhead responded with a somewhat sheepish expression.

"I don't believe in any such thing as magic," Mary replied, the pure rationalist asserting her position.

"Lucky you," the redhead grumbled, "Me, I never had that option."

Mary was puzzled as she studied the beautiful creature before her, finding it hard to reconcile her with that vision of ugliness from before, which prompted her to ask, "Who are you?"

"I...don't really have a name," the redhead shuffled slightly, "But the Doctor...the guy who, um...brought me into the world...he liked to call me Adam...real Biblical guy, if you can believe that..."

"Adam?" Mary cocked an eyebrow, "Not Eve?"

"Oh no," the stranger said dismissively, "She's somebody else. It's...kind of a long story..."

"I'm listening," Mary replied, "You might as well tell me since...it seems that will be the only action I get this night," she noted with faint disgust, glancing at the doorway through which Shelly would not be hailing until he dragged himself to the room somewhere before morning.

"Naw, I'm not here to tell stories," the redhead sniffed, "In fact, I'll be on my way now..."

"In that smelly old thing?" Mary wrinkled her nose, "You could at least consider borrowing one of my dresses."

"Huh?" the redheaded creature blinked her eyes, quite unprepared for that offer.

"Look," Mary tried to sound reasonable, "It's obvious enough that you're in some kind of trouble. Is there someone who is after you?"

"Huh," the redhead snorted, "Lady, there's always somebody after me for one damned thing or another...been that way for as long as I can remember."

"Why?" Mary asked, "What did you do?"

"I ain't done nothing!" the redhead protested, then paused before adding, "Not on purpose anyway...things...just kinda happened..."

"Such as?" Mary inquired.

"Aw...you don't wanna know that," the redhead snorted.

"How do you know?" Mary asked, "It seems to me as if you have quite a story to tell...and I am always interested in hearing about interesting stories."

"Look, I really don't have time to sit around and tell campfire stories," the redhead replied, "I've gotta head on down to the coast, I need to catch the first boat for America and all that..."

"Really?" Mary arched an eyebrow, "And what part of America most interests you?"

"The wilderness part," the redhead replied, "I hear that South America's pretty open this time of the century, and a guy can get himself real lost in one of those rainforests..."

"You wish to lose yourself out there?" Mary asked in curiosity, "Why?"

"Because people like you ask too many damned questions," the redhead replied, "And they often don't like the answers."

"You would be surprised at where my tastes run," Mary mused, "I'll make a deal with you...if you will abide with me for a few hours and relate your story, then I will have your things washed and cleaned by the servants, and I will give you a fine dress that fits your womanly curves so that you won't have to run around like a gypsy all of the time..."

"Hey, I've been around real gypsies," the redhead responded, "They ain't so bad as people go...at least, no worse than most, except maybe around outsiders..."

"You don't say?" Mary asked, all the more intrigued, "So...tell me, do you have any money?"

"Money?" the redhead blinked.

"That's what I thought," Mary smiled, "How do you intend to afford passage to the Americas without any money?"

"Who said I was paying?" the redhead countered.

"You would stow away and risk discovery on board a ship?" Mary marveled, "Do you have any idea what they would do to you if you were discovered?"

"Hah, lady, that's the least of my worries," the redhead snorted, "I can handle myself if it comes down to it..."

"Perhaps so," Mary judged that the wiry package before her would doubtlessly prove more of a handful than many men could handle, but she smiled just the same and said, "What say I give you something to send you on your way for your troubles. You can consider it a loan...unless, that is, you intend to rob me."

"Hey, I ain't no thief!" the redhead protested.

"And no one is accusing you of that here," Mary reasonably countered, "But if you consent to remain here and tell me your story, I would consider the gift of a few pounds, and a dress worth considerably more than that, to be adequate compensation for your troubles."

The redhead just blinked at her then said, "You'd pay me...to hear my story? Why?"

"Because what you have hinted at me so far implies a story that I am absolutely dying to hear," Mary replied with some eagerness, "Please consent to share with me the details of your adventures...it sounds to me as though it will make a most diverting tale, perhaps even one worth converting into a novel."

"You'd want to tell my story?" the redhead scratched her hair with a puzzled expression, "In a book? I mean...no offense, lady, but are you nuts? Who'd want to read it?"

"Bored society girls looking for love and romance, of course," Mary responded, feeling rather authoritative on that particular subject, "Please...I simply must know what has brought you here, and to such a state. That giant I saw before...how did that happen to you?"

"Uh...well...would you believe that giant's what I actually look like?" the redhead glanced down at her near-nude condition, "I mean...this is just the effect of a curse that got laid on me..."

Mary had to blink twice at that before saying, "You call that a curse?"

"Yeah," the redhead snorted in self-derision, "You'd think it wasn't huh? Well, let me tell you something...you wanna hear a story? I got a story, and it's all true, not that I expect you'd ever believe it..."

Mary eagerly nodded that she wanted the stranger to elaborate, and so began a tale unlike any other, one quite unbelievable, and yet oddly compelling, in a horrifically tragic-comic kind of way...

1797-Countryside of Vienna

"I've done it, Henry...I've created life!"

"Victor?" said Henry Clay, lab assistant and colleague to one Victor Frankenstein as the latter all but danced gleefully on celebrating his achievement.

"After years of study and research...I have finally done what no one has achieved before me!" Victor proclaimed in exultation, gesturing to the homunculus body presently twitching to life upon the table before them, "You see? My creation lives...he lives and breathes because I have discovered the means of animating the dead...the secret of life itself is now within my grasp! Just think of the possibilities, Henry? Life eternal itself is now ours for the asking!"

The land that twitched to life clenched itself into a fist, though the rest of the body remained obscured beneath a tarp. An eyelash flickered open, then another, and a figure stared up at a cloth-wrapped universe that extended no further than the length of an eyelash. From some deep recesses of newly kindled consciousness came the question that bubbled to the surface, "Where...am...I...?"

Of course all that came out of a newly revitalized throat was an incoherent, "Mnnngaaahh?"

Henry nearly jumped out of his skin upon hearing this, but Victor was all the more elated, "Did you hear that? Henry...it's alive...and it's trying to communicate!"

"Um," Henry tried to think of something intelligent to say, but every instinct was telling him to bolt for the door as fast as he was able. Fortunately for his peace of mind, it was their lowly man-servant, Igor, who pointed out the obvious.

"Do you think maybe he wants to see where he is, Doctor?" the misshapen hunchback inquired.

"Of course he wants to see where he is, you dolt," Victor snorted, "Just as I wish to gaze upon the glory of my own creation!" and with that he uncovered the tarpaulin, revealing the body that lay underneath, to which Henry fervently wished had remained fully hidden.

To pit it in as mild a term as one might have been able...the creature was truly hideous beyond imagining! Stitched together from different body parts, some mismatched to one another, the face alone a sickening grayish-green color with scars in place where they had been sutured, it was enough to make a strong man puke, but to Victor this monstrosity was beautiful beyond imagination.

"Yes!" he declared in delirious glee, "His eyes are moving...they match perfectly in focus. Oh...well...one's a bit discovered and all that, but the important thing is that I was right about there being nerves which connect the two and make it possible to focus. Of course the true test of my genius will be if the brain itself functions like normal...such a delicate instrument that needed great care in preserving when transporting from its previous host into this one. Let's see now...how do the reflexes function?"

Victor took a small mallet from his stock of medical equipment and selected a knee on the giant before giving it a light tap, only to see the leg kick out with such force that it broke the straps that were supposed to restrain it. Victor jumped back, but not from alarm, more from amazement as he cried, "YES! His nervous system is intact! He can feel his extremities! Oh, I truly am a GENIUS!"

"Nnnnuuhh?" the creature responded with a totally bewildered expression (or so one might interpret it that way, being that portions of the face were not yet fully mobile).

"Uh..." Henry wondered if fainting dead away would be a good idea at this point, for not only was this THING technically "alive," but it had just demonstrated an enormous strength well beyond anything that had been factored in during the process of his creation.

"Uh...wonderful, Master," Igor remarked faintly, "But...did you have to make this guy so big?"

"Of course, you idiot," Victor snapped as though his own genius were being questioned, "It was necessary to size everything just right in order to approach the perfect balance of form and function in my creation. You know as well as anyone the care and detail which I have placed in every aspect of this creation process, from the selecting of body parts to the weeks of careful preparation as I soaked them all in the chemical solution that preserved and restored them. I used my great grandfather's book on Alchemy to formulate the solution, of course, precisely following in detail its description on how to create the perfect Homunculus, but my creation is no mere fabrication! These are the parts of dead bodies which have been combined to create a greater whole, fused together with the intricate detail of a fine tapestry, and given the baptism of electrical fire to awaken him to life itself! He is thus resurrected, a modern-  
day Lazarus, like the first men shaped from the raw clay of the dust at the hands of a Prometheus, the perfect blending of Natural Science and Ancient Wisdom, who has proven my theories correct about the Biochemical and Electrical nature of living flesh itself! Now my creature lives, and gradually he will become stronger, better, more alive than any mere mortal who now walks upon this planet!"

"Are you saying that this...thing...is some kind of a Devil, Victor?" Henry asked, not liking the way the creature seemed to be following their conversation.

"Not a Devil, Henry," Victor corrected, "Although he may not look like much now, the spells that were crafted into his design will slowly begin to work their magic within him, and the electricity that now fires his every muscle bone and sinew will slowly but relentlessly work to heal the rifts that remain as a result of his being a patchwork creation. Wait and you will see his separate parts coming gradually together into a stronger whole, just as the ligaments, which I attached, will become fixed in place as though born of one flesh and body. Oh, he may have a few scars as the result of the process, and he'll never quite be a raving beauty, but over time his features will become less hideous and deformed...even the body parts which don't quite match precisely in size will slowly adjust to find a state of equilibrium. This is because the life energy in which I have infused him is a hundred times greater than the force of life which pulses within our own bodies..."

"Does that mean he'll be a hundred times as strong as us, Master?" Igor nervously asked.

Victor paused to consider the question, then said, "I...don't quite know just yet. I haven't adequately calculated what his real strength threshold will be, but I dare say it will be a lot more than twice what one would expect, given his enormous body mass. Of course the body is not the full extent of the matter...it is the brain which most concerns me! I hope that the genius of the mind, which I borrowed from my late and lamented colleague, will survive intact in this new creation...though, sadly...I fear he will never fully remember everything. In point of fact, he will be much like one newborn who must learn all over again the basics of everything, from walking to talking..."

"Talking?" Henry asked, "He can talk better than...this?"

"Guuuhhhnnnggg?" the creature mildly inquired, hoping that his communications skills would definitely improve, even if he had one heck of a sore throat at the moment.

"Oh, give him time to rest and I dare say he will be able to recite the alphabet in either English, Swiss or Latin," Victor waved the point away then sighed, "I tell you, Henry, this is truly an extraordinary moment for me...one that I have labored for years to achieve. Now...looking on that ugly and misshapen face, I can't help but feel like a proud father who has just given birth to his first child! Oh, if only I dared show him off to Elizabeth...her father would not be so quick to label me a crackpot!"

Henry wanted to dispute the point, but dared not contradict his friend and employer. Privately, though, he reflected that it had been one thing to look at this ugly mass of stitched together body parts when it was just a dead hulk laying on a table...but to see it all come together now and move like a living thing...it fairly made his skin crawl! He could not help feeling that their work had been both unethical and unholy, no matter what nobility Victor attempted to adorn it with, the violation of everything that was sacred and a naked attempt to thumb one's nose at the all mighty! Just gazing at the naked giant was enough to make his stomach roil in protest, yet all Victor seemed able to see was his own mad genius, which had spurned them all into this hideous folly!

"But Master," Igor once again pointed out the bloody obvious, "Are you sure all parts are working as advertised here? And what will you do if the creature proves dangerous?"

"Don't be a simpleton all of your life, Igor," Victor snapped, "I'm sure that he will be quite grateful to be given another chance at life, once I have taken the time to properly educate him into civilized behavior...after all, he was a gentleman in life, right?"

"Uh...if you say so, Master," Igor replied with a dubious expression.

"Oh, Victor!" a feminine voice called up from the lower stairwell, "Are you up there in your lab, Victor?"

The exhausted and somewhat crazed Victor turned away from his dreams of glory upon hearing that voice and cried, "Oh God, Elizabeth? What's she doing here? I thought I told her to wait at the chateau..."

"Nnnguuuh?" the Monster seemed to shift the focus of his attention to the sounds of dainty footsteps on the stairs.

"Yes Gods," Victor looked around wildly from the stairs to the Monster and back again, "I can't have her seeing my creation like this, not when he is only half-  
restored and fully naked! We must cover him up again and..."

"Master!" Igor said with some alarm as he pointed, "Look...he's alive all right, there can be no doubt about it!"

Henry gasped at the most amazing thing which happened right there and then...for between the legs of the Monster his limp member began to stiffen and grow to full life...an enormous rod that slowly lifted up to stand like the leaning tower of Piza, saluting the heavens like a flag pole for one and all to see. More than anything else so far, this singular event caused Henry's knees to weaken, for it was a truly awe-inspiring testament to Victor's genius...if genius it was in attaching a horse's member to the body of one allegedly human!

"Good heavens, Man!" Victor exclaimed, "Get the tarp over him this instant! You want my fianc e to be frightened out of her wits?"

The hunchback and Henry wasted no time getting the tarp back over the body of the Monster. It did little good to hide the raging hard-on, though, but it certainly put Henry's mind somewhat to ease not having to look at the thing again, even as Elizabeth chose that moment to reach the top portion of the stairwell.

"Good heavens, Victor," she said properly, fanning her nose with a hand, "What is that wretched smell? Don't tell me you've spent all your time up here breathing these fumes?"

"Elizabeth, Darling!" Victor greeted her with open arms, almost stumbling from his state of near-exhaustion, "What are you doing here? I asked for you to wait for me at a hotel..."

"After all the time that I've been waiting for you since I rode a coach here from my father's estate?" Elizabeth replied, a radiant beauty whose long blonde hair hung in curls about her shoulder, "For shame, Victor, ignoring me like this..."

"But dear, my work has been so very important to me..." Victor began, when as "MMMnnngg?" sound emanated from the table.

"What was that?" Elizabeth blinked.

"What was what?" Victor replied mildly, having a perfectly bland and innocent expression.

"That sounded like a noise," Elizabeth replied, trying to peer past her fianc e's shoulder.

"Oh, that's just Henry," Victor lied, "He has a bad head cold at the moment...to many long hours helping me to set up my electrical experiments, I fear..."

"Oh?" Elizabeth asked with a dubious expression.

"Yes," Victor replied, keeping a firm-but-gentle grip on his lady's forearms, "Why don't we go back downstairs and I'll freshen up for a bit, then I'll take you out to dinner...as a point of fact, I feel like celebrating."

"Nnnnuuuh?"

"There it is again!" Elizabeth all but jumped, "Are you sure that's Henry? It doesn't sound quite like him..."

"Oh, but it really is a very bad cold, I'm afraid," Victor turned an annoyed glance over his shoulder and added, "Henry really should get some rest, he's been such a help to me these last few weeks, I really don't know what I would have been able to achieve without him..."

"And what about Igor?" Elizabeth inquired.

"Igor?" Victor seemed puzzled by the question, "Well, I suppose he has been of some small use, in a bumbling sort of way..."

"Oh...Master!" Igor almost gushed with gratitude, those words being the closest thing to praise that he had ever received from the son of his noble Baron.

"Well, I suppose it would be good to get away from this horrible place," Elizabeth wrinkled her nose in distaste, "And what about you, Victor? Have you been eating well and getting enough rest?"

"Why, only as much as I have needed, my Sweet," Victor replied, showing off more of his slightly crazed expression, "The brilliance of my experiments has been what has sustained me in the absence of your tender affection..."

"Guuuh?" the Creature responded, wondering why those flowery words sounded so familiar for some vaguely disturbing reason.

Again Victor flashed an annoyed look over his shoulder and made a frantic hand-  
motion where his lady could not see it. Igor thought he understood the command to pacify the creature, so he took up a shovel that had been sitting next to the wall and aimed the flat of it at the protruding member, whacking it good and hard in the hopes that this would dispense with that annoying hard on.

"GGGGUUUUUHHHHH!" the creature exclaimed, suddenly bucking against the table as his eyes went cross-eyed.

Victor felt like rubbing his temples to ward off a massive headache, which-in point of fact-he did, thereby confirming to Elizabeth that his state of health was entirely too fragile.

"Victor...you've been working yourself almost to death, just look at you! Your skin is so gray and pallid, you're almost like the walking dead!"

"Gnnk!" came the small, slight whimper of the creature.

"You're coming downstairs to bed with me," Elizabeth seized Victor by one arm and drew him along with her back towards the stairwell, "And I won't hear any words of protest, do you understand me, Victor?"

"But-!" the mad genius sputtered as he sighed and relented to the inevitable.

"Oh, and Henry," Elizabeth called back, "Do something for that cold...you sound positively ghastly."

"Ah...yes, Your Ladyship," Henry replied, only to exchange looks with Igor as the two of them found themselves in the unenviable position of wondering what to do about the creature in whose presence they now found themselves, both men eyeing the writhing tarpaulin with mutually dubious expressions...

"Why, how horrible!" Mary exclaimed as she sat across her bed with the redhead, who was herself now draped in a borrowed night dress, "Your creator sounds like a perfectly awful human being."

"I wouldn't really know about that," the redhead shrugged, "I've met a lot of worse people since my creation, but Victor was a real prize, I think the only thing he could see beyond his own ambition was Elizabeth, and she had way lots more sense than anyone would have suspected at the time. Also one hell of a lay, not that Victor ever seemed to take the time to appreciate that about her..."

"What?" Mary sounded shocked, "Are you saying you...violated her?"

"Uh...no, that's not how I would put it, no siree!" the redhead winced, "Truth is...we didn't even get to meet each other properly until quite a few years had passed, but that's getting well ahead of the story. The truth is, I was just a baby right then, hardly even new born, and though I was artificially created I had a soul and a conscience, and I started wondering early on about just why I was created."

"Didn't your creator tell you about that?" Mary wondered.

"Not right away, and I didn't exactly stick around for explanations," the creature (who seemed all too human at the moment) answered, "You see...getting whacked in the nuts like that didn't exactly give me a good sense of what I was in for if I stuck around and waited for Victor to recover, so...just as soon as I was able, I got up off that table and took a powder."

"You mean you escaped?" Mary asked.

"Yeah, busted right out of there before anyone could stop me," the redhead nodded, "The straps weren't much of a problem, and neither was the door. Of course once I was outside of the tower I had a different kind of problem...you see, I had only the tarp for protection against the elements, and when I stumbled out into the forest...that was when my real problems started."

"Real problems?" Mary arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah," the creature snorted, "That's when I ran into...HIM..."

Saotome Genma heaved a sigh as he stared at a pine needle canopy, for the first time in his long life having an understanding of what it must have felt like to be a Hibiki. He hardly needed to be told that this was not Japan in which he presently had been trans-located. In point of fact, it looked a bit too much like that Gaijin-infested Britain which he had thought himself well acquitted of once Merlin had cast his spell to send him into the future.

"I always thought that Frog Kisser was playing a little too much with his wand," Genma sourly grumbled, wondering what year it was and what part of the Kami-  
forsaken European landscape he had been transported to this time. Japan was probably a very long ways away from there, and who knew what era it was, or even if there would be anyone there who would recognize Saotome Genma. He needed to find his way back somehow...these many years away from home had actually made him feel nostalgic, and in spite of many interim affairs, he was missing his real wife, Nodoka.

"I wonder if the Boy even knows I'm missing," he grumbled to himself, although to which "Boy" he was referring would have been a bit of a tossup. His son...his REAL son would have been one thing, but then there were the other charges whom he had helped to raise to manhood, and the impression each had left upon his training.

There was Conan, of course, the surly dog who had won the throne of an empire after more than twenty years of tutorage in the Anything Goes school, then there had been that semi-divine brawler, Herakles, followed in turn by that young cub, Arthur. Each had grown to become mighty heroes and accomplished martial artists, and at the end of each mission Genma had been assured that his wandering adventures were over, that he would be restored to home and family, and away he had been whisked back into the timestream.

Only this time Merlin appeared to have missed his target by quite a long margin. Genma had seen many examples of a rustic society which had yet to discover the automobile, and the style of dress was fairly archaic. It reminded him a bit of pre-Meiji era Japan before the industrial revolution, but the people here had definitely invented the use of gunpowder...that point had been demonstrated at the last farm which Genma had raided, making off with a few chickens before having to dodge the hiss of a musket ball fired his way by an angry farmer.

So far he had not stopped to ask anyone for the time and season, and since newspapers did not seem to be invented yet, he had little way of finding out what was going on in the world at the present. All he knew was that he was still a long way from home with nothing but his wits to guide him, and a small purse of coins which he had "lifted" from one of the locals. He did notice that there seemed to be a lot of soldiers marching about the countryside in large patrols, both on foot and on horseback, but since foreign history was hardly one of his specialties, he did not know which period of war this signified, other than the fact that the uniforms worn by these soldiers seemed awfully drab and uncomfortable looking, with hats that all but cried out to make one a target for any sniper.

At least there was still some wild game he could wrangle up as he pondered what his next move should be, and how he could achieve the goal of getting back home in one piece. Sitting with a pig over a fire (which, oddly enough, reminded him a bit of Ryoga) he sat in meditation...when all at once his combat reflexes flared to life, and his survival instincts debated the necessity of immediate running.

Then, to his amazement, a huge form came stumbling into his encampment. At first Genma thought it was a bear standing on its hind legs, but then he saw a face that looked as though it had been a major casualty in an altercation with a truck, and he yelped as he stepped backward, prepared to climb a tree if the strange monstrosity made any further move in his direction.

"Guhhh?" the creature muttered, staring at Genma with neither hostility nor spite in its expression.

"Uh...who are you?" Genma asked nervously, amazed upon meeting such a very tall Gaijin!

"Gah-gooo-guh..." the creature seemed to be struggling with words, then it turned to regard the pig roasting over the fire, and it began to stumble forward.

"HEY!" Genma immediately protested as he darted forward, "That's my lunch! I got it fair and square-!"

"GAAAH!" the creature barked at him in annoyance.

Genma halted in his tracks and immediately put up both hands in a deflecting gesture, "Ah...of course, it would be rude of me not to share with you since you're obviously quite hungry..."

The creature turned from him and reached out a hand towards the pig, only to snatch it back again with a look of shock, "GGGAH!"

"Ooops," Genma winced, "Guess you forgot about the fire, huh? Well...serves you right for reaching in like that, don't you have any table manners?"

"Guuuh?" the creature asked with a puzzled expression.

"Well...of course I can share," Genma decided that the pig had been over the fire long enough and went to the makeshift spit in order to remove its sweet-  
smelling carcass. He brought it over to where it could cool then urged the giant to sit down on the log next to where Genma had been sitting, then Genma used his hands to pry loose one of the legs of the pig, which same he handed over to the creature.

"Goh," the creature nodded in understanding, then took the rest of the whole pig and broke it in half between his huge, misshapen hands, tossing the smaller portion back over to Genma, then biting into the still hot carcass with ravenous hunger, teeth ripping off chunks of pork with evident relish.

"Ah...yes, I see," Genma murmured faintly, "Big man, big appetite...what was I thinking?"

Once the giant had finished off the pig he paused to wipe his fingers down on the tarp, which constituted his only piece of wardrobe, then the giant patted his belly with a contented sigh and said, "Geh."

"You're welcome," Genma replied, wondering if the creature were speaking a foreign language.

The giant was thirsty and shortly afterwards went to the nearby lake in order to slake his thirst, leaving Genma to bury the bones of their catch while wondering what to do about his new companion. It certainly did not even take a man of his limited cerebral gifts to fathom that the giant was an escaped refugee of some carnival or circus, possibly even a mental institution, though Genma deemed it more likely to be a hospital, given the extend of the man's extensive scarring. He considered taking off while the giant was distracted, but a stubborn insistence that it was HIS camp, his temporary home, held him firmly in place until the giant returned and sat back down before the fire.

What followed was a silence that was almost deafening as neither man seemed willing to leave of his own volition. That was when Genma had what passed for a flash of brilliance cross through his mind right then and there, and without a word he got up and went searching for some round stones that he had spotted earlier, fathering them up while his new companion watched with curiosity, until Genma came back and sat down opposite to the giant.

Genma then took a stick and used it to draw a series of squares on the ground next to the fire, earning the curious attention of the giant. When he had done creating the pattern, Genma then carefully placed the stones down on their opposite sides, then looked up at his new companion and said, "Do you know how to play Go?"

"Gnh?" his companion raised an eyebrow.

"Don't worry," Genma replied reassuringly, "I'll teach you..."

"He must have been quite an extraordinary man," Mary marveled, "Not running in abject terror of what must have been a horrific experience."

"You think so, huh?" the redhead sniffed, "Yeah...he was extraordinary all right, and he didn't seem to mind the fact that I was ugly as sin back then, but...that ain't even the half of it. It started the next day when I woke up bright and early and found the guy doing some kind of a dance number..."

The one thing Genma had learned from his many lifetimes of experience on the open road was that you never have too much practice in keeping in shape. Though his skills had considerably improved over the many years, he still knew the risk he took in getting too lax in his own personal training. Time and again his charges had proven to be quite the handful, and it was all that he could do to stay one step ahead of them in speed, skill, grace and raw animal cunning.

Already he was far superior to Ranma when the boy had defeated Saffron, but experience around the Olympians and the Camelot crowd had only served to reinforce the old saying, "As good as you are, there's always someone who's better!" No doubt the Boy would surpass Genma's skills with a few more years of life-hardening experience, so it was all to the better if Genma keep up his fighting trim, just in case the whelp needed a few more lessons. Not that the little ingrate ever seemed to understand the sacrifices which Genma had made for the sake of their Ryu, but Ranma had always been a mouthy little punk...rather a lot like those other boys who had more recently been Genma's charges.

Genma had trained the best, there was much pride to be had in this, and the pride of being even a surrogate father was watching your adopted sons grow up to be men who earned a place in legend. Still and all, it would be nice if someone once in a while appreciated his teachings. Just where would those boys have been if not for Genma? Would anyone even know that they existed? Oh, the injustice of it all, the humanity! It was enough to make him want to try his hand once more at teaching, provided he could find a student worthy of his rigorous training.

And that was when he noticed that the creature from the night before had gotten up from camp and was now peering at Genma. The creature had torn off a part of his tarp to fashion a loincloth but was otherwise quite naked. He also seemed to be studying Genma's movements as the latter when through some elaborate shadowboxing maneuvers, dispatching a series of imaginary opponents.

Genma decided to ignore his audience as he continued with his training, but after a few moments of slowing himself down in order to work on some new, complex katas, he chanced to glance to one side and nearly fell off the tree stump upon which he had been practicing.

For there was the creature off to one side watching Genma while attempting to copy the very same movements! He was even balancing on one leg while trying to keep the other leg stiffened, but when he paused to see that Genma was looking back at him, the creature lost his tenuous balance and toppled over onto his broad backside.

"Hah...think you're man enough to copy me, eh?" Genma smirked, waiting for the giant to get back onto his feet before attempting something a simpler, seeing whether or not the giant might again try to imitate him. Much to his surprise, the giant did just that, not perfectly, of course, but with a reasonably honest effort.

"Hmm..." Genma turned and paused as he stared at the craggy-faced, heavily scarred bruiser, "Well...you're not much to look at, and I've met Ogres who had more personality, but you seem like you'd like a few lessons, so...what say we start at the beginning?"

"Gnoh?" the Giant replied, obviously interested enough to consent to a few "harmless" lessons...

"And that's how it started," the redheaded creature remarked, "Like that I got accepted as a student to my Uncle Genma."

"Extraordinary," Mary exclaimed with an amazed expression, "You say this man was from some distant Eastern land and knew their mysterious methods of unarmed fighting?"

"To be exact, it was called the Musubetsu Kakuto Ryu," the redhead replied, "Or Anything Goes School of Indiscriminate Grappling. Allegedly, it's one of the most powerful forms of martial arts on the whole planet, and before too long I became an acknowledged master. Took a few years to get the basics down, but during that time Uncle Genma and me moved around a lot and did whatever it took to stay alive, and in the meantime he carved out some wooden pieces and taught me how to play Shogi."

"And this man also taught you how to speak English?" Mary asked.

"Well...not really," the redhead replied, "Turns out the guy whose brain I've got was some kind of scholarly genius...knew at least five major languages and all that. Uncle Genma tended to speak Japanese as his primary language, but he knew a little Chinese, which helped out along the road as we made our way back east towards China..."

"Oooh, China," Mary remarked with delight upon hearing of the mysterious orient, so impenetrable to European understanding.

"Yeah, but not too far east," the redhead continued, "In point of fact, Uncle Genma got it into his head to look up someone he thought he knew there. By that time I'd already gotten myself a regular set of clothes...mostly the bear coat, which I took off a real bear in Siberia who didn't need it any more..."

"Siberia?" Mary blinked, "I thought you said you were going to China."

"Yeah, well...my Sensei wasn't exactly the best tracker on the globe, and his grasp of geography was a lot spottier than mine, but anyway...we finally made it to China...particularly the Qing Hi mountain range, where there dwells a mysterious band of warrior women called the Chinese Amazons..."

"Amazons?" Mary exclaimed, "Surely you are jesting!"

"Oh, I'm quite serious," the redhead replied, "And don't call me Shirley..."

"No-no-no-no-no!" Kho Lon the Elder reprimanded her apprentice, "What is wrong with you, Child? Why are you pausing in middle of performing the Dancing Swan? Do you think an opponent would let you freeze up like that in the middle of a battle?"

"I'm sorry, Elder," replied Lo Xion stammered in apology, "It's just that...I was having another one of those visions again. I can't seem to help it...they just keep coming to me whenever I'm relaxed into my training."

"Well, that just simply means that you are not concentrating enough," Cologne replied, "The tournament is in a few more days...do you want to forfeit your place as Champion to one of the younger fighters?"

"Of course not, Elder," Lotion assured her, brushing pale pink hair out of her eyes as she regarded her dour-faced and Indigo-haired superior, "It's just...why do I keep having these visions? What do they mean? Where do they come from? Are the Gods trying to send me a message? If so, then I wish they could be a little clearer..."

"Perhaps it might help if you explained what exactly it is you see in this latest of your visions, child?" Cologne asked with a more sympathetic expression.

"I see..." Lotion paused to concentrate with a slightly unfocused expression, "...I see a shadow falling across my path...a dark man...brooding and imposing...not evil...not even foreboding, just...sad..."

"Sad?" Cologne asked, "Over what?"

"I...don't quite know why, Elder," Lotion replied, the pink haired girl giving every indication of being half into her vision, "But...I think he is lonely...that people do not treat him very well...because of his appearance..."

"People are often very cruel to those whoa are different," Cologne sagely noted, combing one of her long locks out of her eyes with a distracted hand, hair that was flecked with streaks of silver, giving her an appearance of someone much older than she seemed upon the surface, "I learned this for myself during my wandering years exploring the world outside our borders. You should pay this vision no need, if someone matching your description were to show up, then it would become important, not..."

"ELDER!" a young green-haired child came running up to the practice circle calling out to them both, "Strangers are in our village! The other Elders want you to join them!"

Strangers you say?" Cologne asked with an uplifted eyebrow.

"My vision..." Lotion blinked her eyes, "Elder...?"

"Go on ahead," Cologne nodded, "I will join up with you shortly."

Her pink-haired charge bowed to Cologne then raised her staff in salute, turning on one heel and heading off at a dead run in the direction from whence the child had appeared. Cologne watched her go in silence, even after a form stepped out from seeming no where to join her in the practice circle.

"Interesting," this person remarked in an idle tone of voice, "Her visions become stronger ever day. I think you know what this means, don't you?"

"I'm not interesting in hearing about this, Siren," Cologne replied, "The child chose the path of a warrior, and I am teaching her as a favor to her Elder..."

"You know perfectly well that she was never meant to be a War Master, like you," the blonde haired Enchantress responded, "She knows it too, even if she's too stubborn and prideful to admit it to herself. Elder Balm was right when she said that this one has the gift that could make her a great Lore Master..."

"It is her place to decide such things," Cologne countered, "I never forced Lotion to make any such choice, she follows her own path..."

"But she listens to your guidance," the Mage replied, "And you should have encouraged her to go with her own grandmother. It's a crime not to make use of her gifts as they were intended."

"And would you make that choice for her?" Cologne countered.

"I don't have to," Siren insisted, "But you know as well as I do that these visions are a way of her subconscious telling her that she must move on, that it is time to explore the path for which she was intended."

"We will see about that," Cologne said as she started forward, not even glancing at her childhood friend, whose path had taken her down the difficult way of the Mage, a way that few could travel unaided...

Lotion was unaware of all this, of course, but when she approached the village square she slowed her pace to a mere trot as she saw an incredible sight that astounded her beyond measure.

The man had to be nearly eight feet in height, easily five cubits, and solidly built like the Great Wall itself, perfectly in proportion! His face was hideous, a pale greenish-gray lined with faded scars, and yet not impossible to look at, though obviously quite intimidating to her fellow Amazon sisters.

"Who is he?" she heard someone murmur, to which another Amazon exclaimed, "He looks like a demon! And that face..."

"They say he surrendered to one of our patrols after defeating a hundred bandits to the north, bare handed!" a third remarked, to which a forth quipped, "How? Just by looking at them with that Mug of his?"

Lotion turned to the nearest of those exchanging rumors and asked, "He surrendered to us?"

"The fat one beside him talked him into it," said Ga-Za, one of Lotion's own contemporaries, "He seems to know something of our laws, refuses to fight anyone and is extremely deferential. You almost never meet an outside man these days who seems so unwilling to give offense to us..."

"You ask me," replied Pa-Tse, "I think he's just too much of a coward to want to go up against a real woman, and he's probably not good for much anyway. He looks old enough to already be somebody's husband."

Lotion decided to move closer, gently pushing her way into the front ranks of those surrounding the two strangers. The fat, middle-aged man in the faded cotton gi was worth at least a cursory study, for Lotion sensed immediately that there was much more to this fellow than could be determined on the surface, but it was the giant who held her interest, being an imposing sort of fellow who could not be missed in a crowd, and not just because of his size or hideous features!

The Elders were studying these two strangers with intense scrutiny as their Matriarch, Soap, conducted an interrogation. Her questions were directed at both men (for such was the one obvious thing about both strangers which they shared in common), and as Lotion got within earshot she could make out a few of the details as, "...And you say that you are already married to a warrior in your homeland?"

"That is so, Elder," the fat man responded, "A woman of great courage and mastery of the blade, who defeated me honorably and became the mother of my firstborn child. In deference to her I ask that I be spared from challenge...I ask only for your guidance as my student and I have traveled a very long way to find your honorable village."

"I see," Soap shifted her focus towards the giant, "And does your student have a tongue of his own?"

The giant grunted and said, "I say whatever I like, lady, if anybody wants to ask me."

There was some grumbling in the ranks of the Amazons about this male's tone being less respectful than the fat one's, but Soap smiled and said, "So...you do have a mouth, and a mind. Are you also someone's husband?"

"I..." the giant faltered, "Uh...haven't met the right woman, just yet..."

"Are you saying that you are too good for any woman?" demanded an Elder named Mace.

"I ain't saying that," the giant replied, "Look...Uncle Genma here said you people could help him out with a problem, and I just tagged along for the ride..."

"You are his Student, he is your Seifu," Soap noted, "It is only natural that you should go with him. But I am curious...what manner of school is it that you study?"

"Indiscriminate fighting, Lady," the big man replied before Genma could act to stop him.

There was another low murmur before Soap spoke again and noted, "There was another who came among us long ago, he also claimed to study an Indiscriminate style of combat. You wouldn't happen to be related to him, would you?"

"I don't know the bum," the big man replied, "I only know Uncle Genma."

"I'm sure we have no connection whatsoever to the one whom you have encountered," Genma hastily insisted, "We are only travelers seeking a way back to my homeland, and since you Amazons are said to be wise and knowing about a great many things..."

"You wished to study with us, is that it?" Soap asked, "You know, of course, that we do not permit many outsiders to dwell for long in our village."

"Believe me, once I have what I need to know answered, then you won't be seeing me again," Genma replied, "But it is very important that I speak with someone who knows something about timetravel."

"Timetravel you say?" remarked Cologne as she strode up to join her fellow Elders of the Council, "Curious...why would a mere pilgrim want to know anything about that?"

"Ah...well..." the man with the bespectacled glasses turned to Cologne and said, "I...don't believe we've met before...but...you...seem familiar..."

"I am Cologne," she replied matter-of-factly, then saw the astonishment in the middle-aged man's expression and asked, "Is something wrong, young fellow?"

"Ah...nothing, nothing's wrong!" the balding man insisted, which prompted Lotion to pay him even more attention, though her eyes kept drifting back towards the giant, and somehow-instinctively-she knew that this "Seifu" in particular was lying.

"So glad that you could find the time to join us," Soap remarked to Cologne before turning back to the strangers, "We would like to hear more about your story...and the places to which you have traveled, but first...we would like to ask if you would care to give us a little demonstration of your fighting prowess, just so that we can learn more about this...Indiscriminate fighting which you practice."

"Ah..." the balding man responded, "Thanks, but...like I said, I'm already married..."

"I wasn't talking to you, Fool," Soap turned a smile towards the giant, "I wish to see your apprentice display what he knows about fighting...not in an official challenge, of course, but rather just a harmless little demonstration match, him against our tribal champion, with no consequences to either the winner or the loser. Agreed?"

"Ah...well..." Genma faltered.

"Sounds good to me," the giant replied, "Just as long as it's a friendly match, I've got no objections. Just one thing, though...I won't hit a woman."

"Commendable," Soap remarked, in spite of the mumbled commentary about that curiously insulting statement, "But you understand that the same courtesy will not be extended towards you, right?"

"Hey, dish it out, I was made to take it," the giant replied, his tone and confidence so arrogantly self-assured that Lotion felt herself bridle slightly, clenching her staff in silent indignation.

"Lotion, Child," Soap turned to her, "Would you mind teaching this...man his place?"

Lotion stepped into the ring, glaring balefully at the giant, "I am ready to fight you, are you ready to feel pain?"

"Lady," the giant replied, "I've known pain as long as I've been alive...go ahead and show me what you've got."

"Very well then," Soap raised her voice to the others, "We will convene a match at the Challenge Log...it will be-as you say-a friendly encounter with no consequences to either the winner or the loser. Let us see what these Outsider males are made of."

"Not what, Lady," the giant replied, "Who...and I'd like to know the answer to that one myself."

"Hmph," Lotion frowned, wanting very much to teach this upstart Male his place in the battle forthcoming...

"You fought against her?" Mary asked in mild astonishment.

"More than one time," the redhead explained, "The first time on the log...the second time, when she challenged me to a rematch...well...that's how I wound up in this condition," she glanced down at herself with a curiously vexed expression.

"Now this I want to hear," Mary leaned forward, eager to hear the details of how a monster could be turned into such an obvious beauty, and what had come of it in the course of this strange being's adventures...

Continued.

Comments/Criticisms/Hysterical Revisionism: shadowmane

It's Lotion versus Frank in a match to remember, but when Beauty and Beast become one in the same, how does this play out, and will the literary agent "clean it up" a bit before publication? Find out next time in: "Far and Aware," or "Airen Wanted: Some Assembly Required!" Be there!

X -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

If you wish to check out my other works, Please check out my Fanfiction webpage at: . All related chapters of this series can be found there along with my other works. 


	2. Chapter 2

Frankhalf2

Frankenstein 1/2

"GENMA'S TIME AND SPACE MISADVENTURES!"

by Jim Robert Bader

(Inspired by the works of Rumiko Takahashi &amp;  
Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley)

Chapter Two.

Vienna-1816 AD

"And what about your creator?" Mary asked of her strange companion, "What became of him while you spent all those years wandering about in the company of your mentor?"

"Doc Frankenstein?" the redhead replied, "Oh, he recovered from his mild case of exhaustion and returned to the lab a day later, only what he found when he got there was more than a little disconcerting..."

Black Forest, Germany-1797

"Igor, you fool!" Doctor Victor Von Frankenstein declared in a heated tone of voice, "What have you done with my creation?"

"Honestly, Master," the little hunchback replied, "He was there on the table the last I saw him, I only took my eyes off him for a second..."

"You mean you went to use the latrine?" Henry clarified.

"Well...yeah," the hunchback shrugged (not an easy achievement when one shoulder is somewhat lower to the floor than the other), "And then I got to reading this magazine...honestly, Master, I only looked at the articles and not the wood engravings of those ladies wearing skimpy clothing..."

"Damn it, Man, couldn't you have held it in?" Victor raged, "I was only out for a day and a half...took this long to fabricate an excuse that Elizabeth would buy into..."

"I'm a little more concerned about where the creature might have gotten off to," Henry more reasonably pointed out, "The front door was locked, and there's no sign of a forced entrance."

"Maybe he went out the back door?" Igor suggested.

"We don't have a back door to this old castle," Victor impatiently reminded his manservant.

Igor just pointed at the back wall and said, "We do now."

"Oh," Victor wondered why he had not noticed the large hole that opened out onto the night with the looming twilight of the Black Forest beckoning beyond a three-story fall. Assuming that his creation could survive that (and they would have to check for a body come morning) then there was every likelihood that it had gotten itself lost in that God-forsaken wilderness, alone, hungry, abandoned...

"What can we do?" Henry asked, "It's too dark and remote out there for us to form a search party at this hour of the night..."

"Well, maybe he'll turn up when he's hungry," Igor shrugged once again, "The nearest village is about a half a day's walk from here, so maybe someone will report him. I know, we could put an ad out for him in the local papers and-  
AWP!"

"Excuse me for asking this," Victor declared as he lifted the little man from the floor with both hands gripping Igor by the collar, "But are you saying that we should report to the local Burgermeister that we lost a seven and a half foot tall, three hundred and fifty pound home-made Gorilla? Are you insane, Man? Do you know what they will do to us if they connect my creature to that string of body snatchers who've been plaguing the country, to say nothing of the damages that may be incurred by the creature himself if he should go wild and hurt somebody? I'd be ruined, my father would disown me, and I'd be the laughing stock of the entire scientific community!"

"AWP-URK-EEK!" Igor frantically signaled to Henry that he needed assistance as he was starting to see spots before his eyes, the hysterical strength of his Master's grip coming that close to snapping him like a twig as he was shaken like a rag doll (mixed metaphors notwithstanding).

"This is a very odd time for Charades," Henry frowned, then tried more reasonably, "Victor...if the creature is potentially dangerous, then maybe we ought to report him anonymously, just in case he does hurt someone. We don't have to let them know that it was you who gave the creature life."

"That's right," Victor said as he let Igor go, "The creature is not yet capable of rational speech...I'm sure he wouldn't be able to testify against me in any event. Perhaps it's just as well...he was nothing more than the prototype anyway, a test-run, as it were, before I moved on to the next stage."

"The next stage?" something about the way his schoolboy friend had worded that was giving Henry the urge to start running for the exit.

"Yes," Victor clapped his hands together and started rubbing, "This time we will make a new creature that will be an improvement upon the first...and now that I know what steps are to be avoided, this new creature will be fair to look upon, not hideous, like the first one."

"A new creature, Master?" Igor looked up from the floor, where he was still vigorously rubbing his neck, "Does that mean I have to dig up more bodies...?"

"Not necessary," Victor waved the point aside with a dismissive gesture, "This time we will use fresher corpses, bodies which have not had time enough to decompose, and we will leave them immersed in the revitalizing solution for a much longer time to remove the scars so that she will appear to be perfectly normal. I shall call her Eve, as the first creature was my Adam, and she will be the mother to a new race of perfect specimens, a new race of stronger, faster, more resistant creatures who will serve mankind and help bring about a greater, more glorious future!"

"Victor," Henry exclaimed, "You are mad!"

"Not really," Victor sighed, "Just a little disappointed. I had such high hopes for my first boy, but...oh well. A son does not always turn out the way a father wants him to be, but we learn from our mistakes and keep trying. Now then...Igor...we shall begin by collecting that serving girl who is about to be hung in the market square...you know the one to whom I am referring?"

"Poor, sweet Mina?" Igor was suddenly quite sad, "What a shame, Master, she's such a nice girl...bit of a temper, yes, but that's certainly no reason to hang her..."

"But a Jury ruled her guilty of murder," Henry pointed out, "You yourself testified against her at her trial, Victor..."

"That is simply because the Constable was such an unreasonable chap who did not allow me to tell my complete story," Victor sulked, "I know the girl was found with that broach in hand, but I'm positive she did not steal it. Unfortunately the word of a Gentleman is not accepted as writ when they want to hang someone for a crime, regardless of whether or not they are innocent. Such a waste indeed...but, fear not! What the law may take away, I can give back! That is why I have made arrangements for your to claim the body, Igor...so that I might give it a proper burial as a gesture of good will and humanity, my compassion for a young girl who is being falsely accused to killing her own Master."

"But who did commit the crime?" Henry wondered.

"Who knows?" Victor shrugged, "Probably some transient or miscreant, but then again, Lord Croft did have something of a temper, so it might well have been an accident, like another of his servants suggested."

"But Mina will live again?" Igor asked, latching on to the point that he found most significant.

"Yes, Igor," Victor replied, "She live again...stronger than she was, better than human, and free from the petty vices of ordinary Mortals. I shall teach her the civilized arts and she will become my Niece. Even Elizabeth will not know any the wiser."

"I hope that you are right, Victor," Henry replied, silently dreading that they might all one day have to answer to providence for the unholy thing which they were once again contemplating...

"So who did kill that Nobleman?" Mary asked with suspicion.

"Who knows?" Frank shrugged, "My bet is that my Uncle Genma had a run in with the guy, some dispute over chickens, and Lord Croft took a shot at him with an old musket, just missed taking Genma out. My Uncle probably lashed out to protect himself then ran for it without stopping to check on the man's condition. He was found with a pitchfork stuck in his back...I think one of his servants was standing right behind him with he went flying. Naturally the guy wouldn't incriminate himself by testifying on the girl's behalf, so she swung by the neck and wound up as the latest victim of my creator's personal hobby."

"How awful!" Mary properly responded, though privately she wondered if this Genma fellow was truly the sort who would have given a damn about killing to stay alive...it could well have been deliberate murder.

"Of course while all this was going on, me and Uncle Genma were on the road that would eventually take us into China...of course along the way we made a few stops here and about...hell, we wandered pretty much all over the European and Asian landscape, even winding up as far south as Arabia before we gradually got to that Chinese village where I met Lo Xion. On the way I kind of met up with some people who were gonna figure prominently in my story, the first one being this camp of Gypsies we ran into...nice people, until you get to see what they're like under a full moon..."

"Gypsies now?" Mary smiled, "You have had some adventures..."

No kidding," the redhead sniffed, "And it was at that camp that I first ran into a couple of real characters who were gonna figure prominently into my story..."

Carpathian Mountains, Romania-1806

A lone figure came walking up the trail, appearing on the edge of the village, which looked almost deserted from the onset. The stranger scanned the streets up and down as he walked with a relentless stride in search of something, only he knew the what and the wherefore. His quest was on hold while he sought out his missing companion, who had gotten lost on her own following a trail that appeared to have taken her to this strange, forbidding land in the hinterlands of the Romanian country.

"Where am I now?" he wondered aloud, a fairly common complaint these days since the curse of the Baba Yaga was still in effect, making it hard for him to tell one direction from another, or even to recall just where he had been and to where he was going.

He was aware of eyes upon him, hostile and malevolent, though this too was a familiar sensation. As confused as his memories were at times, he knew full well that people in villages tended to regard strangers like the coming of the next plague, just as they were usually hostile to that which was strange and different to her feeble understanding. He did not blame them for their petty superstitions, they were simple people just trying to stay alive, and anything threatening to their little worlds had to be treated like an enemy, even if such an attitude often became a self-fulfilling philosophy, turning strangers into enemies and often making a mess of the simplest situation.

A case in point, as he made his way to the center of town he found what he was looking for...his missing companion, the Gypsy known as Misha, or Murielle as he also knew her, currently chained like an animal to a post in the market square, looking battered and bruised with bits of rotten vegetables and the odd stone, which had been hurled in her direction. Her clothing had seen better days, and the general smell that she manifested suggested that she needed a very good bath. Other than that her state of health-not surprisingly-was just fine, never better.

"Misha?" he asked, gaining her attention.

Chains rattled as she immediately looked up and bristled, "Where were you? Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting, Razor?"

"Sorry he replied as he knelt down and examined the chains, then casually took the one connected to the collar around her neck and pulled it between two muscular hands, snapping it with ease as though the heavy thing were made out of putty, "Kind of got turned around back there at that Witch's hut. I just knew sooner or later we'd run into each other..."

"That's because we're bloody bonded together by one of Grandmother Roche's spells," Murielle complained while holding out her wrist-chains so that Razor could break them for her, "Cold Iron, I see...looks like these folks are real sticklers about the old ways..."

"Do they know what you are?" Razor asked as he finished breaking off her ankle fetters.

"I don't think so," Murielle replied, "But I'm a Gypsy, that's reason enough for them to get cranky."

"There you go," Razor stood back, "All better. Now, maybe we ought to get you some new clothes, those look like they've just about had it."

"They're not the only things," Murielle said darkly, looking past his shoulder, "There's the welcoming committee come to greet us."

Razor turned around to see a group of village men advancing with pitch forks and farm implements at the ready, the odd torch and rope already pre-tied into a noose just adding to the festive atmosphere of a lynching party, though Razor evidenced not the least concern as he swept his gaze across their number.

"There," he pointed at one of the men, "He looks to be in your size, do you think?"

"Hmm," Murielle eyed the fellow so indicated with the critical stare of someone doing window shopping, "A bit tight around the hips, but I guess he'll do for now, at least until we find something better."

"Stranger," one villager-bolder than the rest-said in what he must have thought was a menacing tone of voice, "You ought have left well enough alone and minded your business...now we're going to have to teach you a lesson."

"I'm always interested in learning new lessons," Razor replied, rolling up his sleeves and revealing arms that were knotted with muscles like small cables, "But I'm afraid we can stay very long. We're on the trail of some people we need to find, and we can't really spare much time to play with you people."

"Who's playing?" another villager glared hotly.

"We are," Murielle replied in a low growl, and all at once her face became bestial and hairy, her body expanding somewhat as fur sprouted out over those areas of skin now exposed by the ruins of her clothing, her hands and feet becoming clawed and dangerous looking, even as fangs sprouted from a snout that jutted out from her face and her eyes became diamond-shape and gleaming. In spite of this all she had no trouble pronouncing the words, "It's Tag, and you're it!"

What little courage had propelled the fear-driven mob evaporated in a collective scream, and then before they could turn tail and sensible run for their lives the She-Wolf and Man-Ogre were upon them, laying them out left and right with great economy and efficiency in their every move and gesture. Twenty men were down in the space of the next two minutes, and then Murielle shifted back into human form and calmly went about stripping the unconscious body of one of her victims.

"Oh crap," she complained as she sniffed his "borrowed" trousers, "He made a mess out of these...some guys just don't have any manners..."

"There's a river back a ways where you can wash them off," Razor helpfully pointed out.

"Good, because I need a bath something awful," Murielle wrinkled her nose, "Don't bother showing me the way, my nose will get me there a lot quicker."

"Okay," Razor replied, glancing around before saying, "Doesn't look like the people we're after have been through this place anyway."

"Of course, I could have told you that," Murielle snorted, "The place is still standing."

Were-Woman and Half-Oni set off together back down the trail that Razor had just followed, leaving the remaining villagers to creep out from the concealment of their houses, staring in disbelief at the carnage that had become of their menfolk (though it was later determined that none of them had actually died in the battle, even if one would complain of a chill when he woke up a short while later).

Unbeknownst to both villagers and their recent "guests," however, one figure turned away from his place of concealment and shuffled off down a very different path, one that would take him towards a castle that few sane men had ever been to, and fewer still would care to visit. The Lord of the Manor, his Master, the Count, would want hear about these strange visitors and what they had done to his loyal subjects.

"A pair of Gypsies?" the Count would say sometime later, "And one of them a Werewolf?"

"Yes, Master," Varne replied, groveling before the coffin of the Count, who was presently sleeping away the daylight hours, "I saw her transform with my own eyes, once the man freed her from the chains of cold iron..."

"And passing fair you say?" his Master noted, "Interesting. Perhaps, when nightfall comes, I should pay these two my respects and learn the particulars of their story."

"As you wish it, Master," Varne replied, "Should I have them followed?"

"By all means," the Count replied, "Fetch the Hounds and set them to keeping a pace of these two strangers. I must learn what motivates them to trespass upon my land, and whether they intend good or ill for my loving subjects."

"It shall be as you say, Master," Varne replied, "And should I contact Renfield?"

"There is no need to involve him," the Count replied, "I shall investigate this personally, and if the lady proves surpassing fair, then perhaps I will grace her with my presence. The man does bear watching, though, so I will attempt to define if he is truly as formidable as you have stated."

"Of course, Master," Varne said as he shuffled away to attend his Master's bidding, wondering if romance was in the air and whether or not his Master's other brides should be informed of a possible new addition to their harem...

"A Romanian Count?" Mary asked with a dubious expression, "And one who sleeps by day?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't going to run into him until some time later," the redhead replied, "But when we did...well...let's just say it gets real complicated..."

"So many people to run into," Mary frowned, "You know, it complicates the plot if you have too many elements running around in a story at the same time...better by far to deal with things in the order with which they happen. Jumping around too much would prove too confusing to your readers..."

"Excuse me?" the redhead blinked, "What readers?"

"Never mind," Mary said serenely, "Do go on with your story."

"Okay," the redhead shrugged, "Well, like you said, I should tell things in the order with which they happened, so...as I was saying a while ago, me and Pops wound up in that Chinese village, where they asked me real nice-like to give a demonstration of my fighting skills against a local champion named Lo Xion...and that's where things really started to get complicated..."

Qing Hi Province-1806

Cologne could not quite put her finger on what it was about the giant that made her worry for her young apprentice. It was not just that the very large man moved with an ease which belied his huge frame...size could be overcome by a warrior of sufficient ability, and Lotion had more than enough of what it would take to prevail in most encounters. It was not even that the man manifested a raw kind of strength which belied his hulking frame, or even that his face looked as though it had been very badly stitched together by some long ago incompetent surgeon, for the scars were mostly healed and-for all his frightful appearance-there was a kind of rude nobility to his otherwise homely features. It was more the curious sense of energy about the man himself that put her on guard and made her fear for her Apprentice. She hoped that Matriarch Soap and the other Elders knew what they were doing, because the chances were very good that they might wind up needing a new Champion for the tribe before too much longer.

Lotion also sensed the power and vitality of her designated opponent, but she was too worked up and irritated about his cockiness and condescension to allow herself to be intimidated by a strong Battle Aura. The bigger they were the harder they fell when you brought them down, she reckoned, and so she prepared herself to give the fellow a surprising account, taking advantage of her considerable speed to take the edge away from this ugly, overmuscled bruiser.

The creature himself was less than thrilled about being challenged to fight a mere girl barely one quarter of his size (if that), but he was not prepared to underestimate her either. Of course he had speed, strength and reach on his side, but the girl seemed pretty agile and lively, and no doubt she would try to aim low in an attempt to take him down a level or two. He would have to be on guard against any sneaky surprise maneuvers, and to be ready to counter her efforts without causing her to lose face or be too badly injured.

Genma was visibly sweating as the fight was about to begin, but he had no doubts that his latest student would prove to be more than up to the task of defeating an Amazon...if anything, he took that to be more-or-less a given. What worried him was what might happen if his charge DID win the battle. Genma had come here hoping to obtain Amazon help in finding a way home, but would allowing his ward to take an Amazon bride for his own be the means and the leverage which Genma needed...or would this just be borrowing into more trouble?

The creature surveyed the so-called "Challenge Log," a large hunk of timber suspended on ropes between two large supporting pillars, set within a symbolic circle near the center of the walled village known as Joketsuzoku. The was the Nyanchiczu means of resolving conflicts within the "civilized" confines of ritual combat, a public forum where the odds favored the superior fighter, not a debate of words but of fists, heart and courage. A clever fighter could outwit or outthink his opponent, but the same could be said for a contest of philosophies, and in the end luck would prove the deciding factor.

Well, luck, strength and skill, in which case he had two out of three on his side of the issue.

"Let's do it," he said in his stumbling grasp of the Mandarin language (or at least he hoped that was what he was saying, he could just as well be ordering off a menu for all he could be certain on that subject).

"As you wish, Outlander," his opponent said, vaulting onto the log and assuming her place at the opposing end.

"Remember," the Matriarch called out, loud enough to be heard over the gathering crowd of curious Amazons (mostly female, Frank noted, but with a good sprinkling of curious menfolk), "This is only a practice match, the results of this fight will not be held against the loser. We Elders merely wish to determine the strength of these Outlanders and their curious style of combat."

The creature gave his companion-trainer a side glance and said, "Any advice of this one, Pops?"

"Don't lose," Genma replied, "Unless she fights you for real, in which case you're better off seeking a draw, unless you feel like becoming her husband."

"Husband?" the creature snorted, "Of an ugly cuss like me? No chance of that!"

"Don't be so quick to judge a woman, Boy," Genma said sternly, "They don't just judge a man on looks around here, and you've got qualities that some lady might find worth looking at your mug on a daily basis. Take my word on it...women can be funny about such things..."

"Must be true," the creature nodded, "I've even seen 'em looking at you like they wanted to size you up for their mantle."

The playful jibes they usually exchanged thus out of the way, the creature then vaulted onto the log with surprising grace that belied his huge frame. Despite alighting as gently as he could upon the log, his weight was almost enough to catapult the Pink haired Lo Xion right off of her end. She managed to steady herself with some effort, but the creature had the satisfaction of seeing her looking at him with more caution in her regard, as if only just now realizing that he was not only a big man, he had power and mass to his advantage.

"Ready?" Matriarch Soap inquired, then nodded to Cologne, who signaled to the combatants and formally pronounced, "Begin!"

Lotion decided to test the stranger by making an experimental thrust with her staff, seeing if the creature would react to her probe, but the man hardly even flinched when her first attempt came within an inch of his nose, but when she made a serious thrust on the second pass, aimed directly at his chest, the man moved with a fluidness that astounded her, dodging her staff without losing his place upon the log. Her third attempt was even more surprising, for not only did the giant dodge her thrust, he vaulted cleanly high above the log, grabbed her staff and yanked it forward while simultaneously executing a somersault that carried him to the opposite end of the log, even as Lotion went plunging forward while he took her place behind her.

Lotion recovered only by the quickness of her own reflexes, moving the staff in her hands the moment the large man released it, spinning it in both hands to thrust one end at the log, breaking her momentum and allowing her to recover her bearings. She whirled around to face the giant from the opposite end of the log, now fully appraised of both his speed and agility, though the strength at his disposal had yet to be evaluated.

"He is good," murmured one of the elders, "His control of his power is exceptional..."

"And the speed of his reflexes must be seen to be believed," another Elder agreed.

Cologne did not comment herself, but her narrowed gaze was on the giant, and she seemed to be perceiving something far more than the others about the nature of this strange creature who moved like the wind and struck like the lightning. She could feel the force of his energy reacting against her own Chi, and the nature of that feeling fairly caused her skin to crawl, though not in the adverse manner of something demonic...more like a thing unnatural, animated by forces beyond mortal understanding.

"Don't get cocky, Boy!" Genma called out, "If you get flashy you'll underestimate her, and that would be a mistake..."

"I know the drill, Old Man," the giant said gruffly, "This little cookie is quick, but I think I've got her number."

"That is what you think, Outlander!" Lotion replied in Mandarin, though how she could understand a speech made in Japanese was not yet within her understanding.

This time she attacked in earnest, her staff moving in and out in a weaving pattern, striking out at the big man with short but precisely aimed thrusts that left no margin for him to grab or deflect, even as he dodged each time she came close to connecting. The giant kept up his weave-and-bob pattern without showing signs of strain or exhaustion, nor did he take his eyes off the pink haired girl assaulting him, almost smiling as he admired her economy of motion, the way she tried to sense his movements before he had time to react to her own fierce attacks.

"You can sense it, can you not you, Kho-Lon?" So-Op murmured with a knowing glance in her direction, "The stranger's life force is not animated like that of other men..."

"He is not a man," Cologne replied, "But...what else is he?"

"Something I have never seen before," the Matriarch replied, "But there are legends of such a one, made from the dust or the parts of other men and given life through means of sorcery, like Taoist Alchemists are said to be able to do with the arcane means at their disposal. Si-Ren would know, she has studied much about such matters..."

"Did I hear my name being invoked, Matriarch?" the blonde enchantress replied, her gaze already focused upon the giant, "And you are right...he is a Golem...but he is more alive than other men, not undead, like some revenant."

"Then what is he really?" yet another of the Elders asked, "Can such a one be natural...?"

"Or unnatural," Siren replied, "It all depends on one's definitions."

The standoff between giant and tribal Champion suddenly reached a climax point as Lotion-who had been steadily tiring under the force of her own efforts-  
thrust her staff down and used it to vault forward with a kick aimed low beneath the reach of the giant's long arms, forcing him to jump back in order to avoid her as she spun the staff around in both hands and aimed a thrust upward at the man's unprotected center, scoring decisively and nearly tumbling him off of the log.

"OOF!" the giant exclaimed as he caught his balance at the last second, then smiled in a way that would have frightened small children, raising his forearm to block her follow-up thrust towards his chin. He would have lashed out next but Lotion-seeing her peril-darted back a bit to regain her bearings. He nodded his approval then said, "Good one, Lady...now see what I can do!"

With that he vaulted into the air, going right over Lotion's head as she stared in amazement, utterly unprepared for such a prodigious leap, and when he hit the other end of the log it caused it to sway sharply, the heavy ropes supporting it giving way to his mass, which caused the log to drop down a foot on his side, which in turn overbalanced Lotion and caused her to tumble within reach of the giant's grasp.

The creature wasted no time seizing hold of the girl by her silk Cheosang, and then he hefted her into the air without apparent effort, easily holding her aloft despite her kicking and struggling attempts to free herself, facing upward at and angle that gave her no leverage or purchase.

"Like to surrender now, Lady?" he called up to her in Mandarin, confident that he was now beyond the reach of her bo-staff.

"It seems the match is all but over," one of the Elders remarked, stating what seemed obvious to all present.

"Not quite," Cologne replied, "There is still one method by which Lotion may free herself, if she dares to use it."

"Do you yield, Champion?" Soap called up to the struggling Lotion.

"I DO NOT!" Lotion cried out stubbornly as she continued to try and force the giant to release her.

"Hey, give it a rest, Lady!" the creature appealed, "Your hair is tickling my nose..."

"Outlander!" Lotion sputtered, then in a moment of desperation she reached up and undid the wooden buttons of her outfit. A few quick moments later and she tumbled free of the giant's grasp, managing to fall upon the log with feet braced to catch her balance while he was left holding her silken garments. She spun around to face him, staff at the read as her Amazon sisters either cheered her audacity or reacted in amazement that she would be angry enough to reply upon such a desperate maneuver.

"Now you pay for that, Dog!" she declared, when all of a sudden she noticed that the giant was looking at her in a very odd manner, his eyes wider than before as he stared at her now-naked upper body. In fact he was staring so hard that she was momentarily confused, wondering if he had ever before seen a woman as nature had intended.

"Oh my," one of the Elders remarked, "Is that blood dripping from his nose?"

"Maybe he's a shy type," another Elder mused suggestively, "Of course his blood is dark, almost inky..."

"What are you looking at?" Lotion asked, irritated with the giant's behavior for some very odd reason.

"Um..." he held her Cheosang back out to her and said, "I...think you need this..."

Lotion actually blinked before a sudden impulse to anger caused her to thrust her staff forward again, aimed low this time and striking the giant right between the legs. The creature gave an "OOF" and suddenly went down to his knees, clutching at his crotch with a most dismayed expression..."

"Oh my!" Mary exclaimed, "Not very sportsmanlike of her, was it?"

"You could put it that way," the redhead noted, "It also hurt like hell, but what else can you expect with such a big target? Afterwards the Elders judged that it was more-or-less of a draw, though they faulted Lotion for using an illegal maneuver, literally hitting below the belt. She got mad and challenged me to a rematch, insisting that the next time she would really clean my clocks out. I didn't know why she was so upset with me at the time, but I think I hurt her pride with that little maneuver..."

"I should say so," Mary responded, "Forcing a woman to shed her modesty in order to free herself from your grip...that was most improper."

"Yeah, well...at the time I didn't know any better," the redhead sighed, "But next, when we met in battle again, it was at their Sacred Combat grounds at a place called Jusenkyo...a word that literally means 'The Pools of Sorrow.' It's this place that has more than a hundred cursed springs bubbling up from some underground aquifer, and if you fall into one of them it's bad news...like you can see," she indicated her own quite noticeably feminine condition.

"Wait..." Mary frowned, "Are you saying that's that is the reason why...?"

"That's right," the redhead replied, "It was during the fight when me and the Pink lady were duking it out on top of these bamboo poles that were thrust out of every one of those springs, and I was trying to make her see reason when one of the poles went snap...obviously shoddy workmanship, or they'd never been designed to take the weight of a four hundred pound guy, if you can believe it..."

"...Look Lady," the creature said as he dodged another spinning attack by his opponent, "If you'd just let me apologize..."

All at once the creature felt the pole he was standing on begin to bend under his weight, and then it snapped down the center, clearly having taken on too much mass as it doubled over, sending the creature tumbling towards one of the bubbling springs.

"Stranger?" Lotion paused, surprised at seeing where the giant was headed.

"Oh bugger!" the creature called out as he reached out with a massive hand and broke his fall by catching his weight against the nearest pole at the last second. He hovered there only a few feet above the water, upside down and looking more than slightly awkward.

Lotion vaulted to a pole right next to the pool he was over and called down with a sweet smile, "Do you need any help to get yourself out of this predicament, Stranger?"

"Ha-ha-ha!" he called out in irritation, irked by her smugness, and with a free leg he kicked out at the pole she was on and caused it to wobble violently beneath her, "Let's see if you-!"

Unfortunately, doing this overbalanced him, and with little more than a yelp he went splashing into the water.

"Uh oh," Siren mused, "So much for him..."

"That Spring he fell into...Nyanniichuan?" an Elder gasped.

"Why am I not surprised?" Genma asked fatalistically, "I told the boy it was a bad idea to fight here..."

"And how exactly did you know that this would happen?" Cologne asked suspiciously.

"Eh?" Genma blinked, "You...speak Japanese...?"

"My father taught me," Cologne replied, "It was his native language."

Before any clarification of that point could be raised, a redhead burst forth out of the water gasping for breath and looking as though she were being partially dragged down by the bear hide draped around her body, "Yeow...what...happened to me...?"

"Stranger?" Lotion yelped as she continued to fight a losing battle to retain her balance.

"Huh?" the redhead ceased struggling to free herself from the heavy wet fur and saw the pink haired girl begin to tumble. Without thinking twice about it she vaulted out of the water, laid a bare foot on dry land, then leaped high and caught the Tribal Champion as she started to fall, finding another pole upon which to regain balance before saying to her surprised opponent, "Are you all right-uh...huh?"

It was only then that the redhead glanced down and took recognition of the fact that she was somewhat smaller than before, had grown a rather substantial pair of breasts and was completely naked, which was only slightly less disconcerting than the shocked expression Lotion herself turned in her direction. Without another word between them the redheaded girl started screaming...

"...Well, what would you expect me to do under the circumstances?" the redhead of the present complained, "I'd just shrunk to about a quarter of my own size and I looked like...this!" she indicated herself with a faint hint of disgust in her expression.

"I really don't see why you are so upset about this transformation," Mary noted, "I mean...not to put too fine a point on it, but you are quite an exotic looking creature, and bit of a blend of Asian and European by your looks...and I wonder why that is?"

"Who knows?" the redhead shrugged, "Maybe Marco Polo or some trader fathered a kid in the long ago past. They told me that some girl from thirteen hundred years ago was the one who drowned there and I wound up with her body...or maybe it was this long-ago Amazon warrior that one Elder claimed was her ancestor...Xian Pu, or Mountain Girl. It's a popular name in their tribe...every generation or so a mother names her kid that in honor of her memory. In fact, the Elders thought I ought to take that name on account of the fact that I never really had a real one of my own..."

"You never named yourself?" Mary asked in surprise.

"Well, I've had names at one time or another," the redhead shrugged, "But they ain't really mine, if you know what I mean. I mean...I never did find out the name of the guy or guys who contributed their body parts to my creation. Sometimes I call myself Legion...as in the old Biblical line..."

"Because we are many?" Mary quoted.

"Yeah, that's the one," the redhead noted, "Pops Saotome thought up a name for me in his own language...Sashiko, which means 'Patchwork' in the Japanese language. Of course he also said he sometimes thought of calling me by the name of his son, 'Ranma,' which means 'Wild Horse,' just like his name means 'Dark Horse.' I guess you can see that I've never lacked for possible names I could use, but none of them ever really seemed to fit me, if you know what I'm saying?"

"What about Frankenstein?" Mary asked.

"You mean after the Doc who made me?" the redhead sniffed.

"It is a good, honorable name," Mary pointed out, "And-technically speaking-  
he was sort-of your father.""

"Hmm...good point," the redhead conceded, "But...if you want to know the real truth of the matter, I ain't happy about borrowing anything that's his. Being called Adam Frankenstein might kind of be like admitting I was his adopted son, but back in Germany he was all done creating his Eve, and she was quite a beauty, let me tell you...just...a little different from other girls...like stronger, faster and a better healer. She also developed quite a bit of a temper."

"Yes, I can well imagine she might have a time of it attempting to adapt to existence like a proper lady," Mary conceded.

"You don't know the half of it," the redhead snorted, "Of course I wasn't about to meet her for a long while yet to come after those events that happened in China. You see...after the second fight ended in another draw, the Elders got into a real debate about what to make about the matter. I'd technically lost, but I'd almost sent Lotion into another of the springs, so I kind of saved her life, which in some minds meant that I ought to be acknowledged as her husband...and that's where the real fun started..."

"Absolutely not!" Cologne insisted, "My apprentice should not be forced to marry a creature who is not even technically human...or even technically a man at all..."

"Be reasonable, Kho-Lon," one of the other Elders argued, "Your ward would have fallen into the Spring of Maoniichuan if not for the noble heroism that the stranger displayed in acting to spare her. By rights her life and honor now belong to him...and so what if he turns into a Warrior when he gets rained upon? I've never heard you voice objections to same-sex couples before..."

"It is not the matter of gender which should be factored here," Cologne insisted, "What matters is that he is an unnatural spawn of Sorcery, animated by Alchemy from the remains of dead people..."

"Who cares how he got put together?" another Elder countered, "Did you see the way he was put together when the guide gave him that hot water? By my sacred ancestors! What a wild horse he would be to ride!"

"But are you certain that it would be safe?" another Elder asked cautiously, "I should think something that huge would tear a woman apart from the inside..."

"I take it that you've never tried the long and hard route?"" Siren quipped in wry amusement, "Besides...what does it matter if he is a being created by Sorcery or no? What truly matters is that he has the heart of a warrior, and a good one by my lights. Only one pure of heart would risk himself to save an enemy from ruin..."

"So, why don't you marry him?" Cologne asked warily of her old friend.

"I am not the one at issue here," the Mage smiled serenely, "It is for Lotion to decide if she will obey the law and declare this man as her lawful husband."

A short distance away Lotion and the restored creature were sitting side-by-side with mutually stunned expressions, hearing their respective fates being debated as if they were small children, as though the choice did not truly belong to them, the words of Siren to the contrary notwithstanding.

Very nervously they kept stealing glances at one another, each looking away when they thought the other might notice, but on the whole they were as nervous as a pair of kittens, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Genma, though his mind was rooted in another line of interest.

"Elders," he said respectfully, "Forgive this unworthy male, but...I was hoping you might have the time to give me the answer which I am seeking..."

"About traveling through time to this Future world you say that you came from?" Soap smiled politely, "Well, Stranger...we are touched by your story, but in order to do as you request...we would need the assistance of one of our long-lost and all-but forgotten treasures..."

"One that was stolen from me and my house," Cologne's tone became acid, "...By a miserable dwarf whom I once made the mistake of trusting..."

Genma turned a horrified look her way, "You don't mean...?"

"Yes, Stranger, I do," Cologne replied in his language, "A demon who came from your islands long ago and caused us great mischief, and his name was Happosai..."

"Yeah, and that was the first time I heard that name being mentioned," the creature sniffed, "At the time it was really comical to see the kind of reaction it caused Uncle Genma...his eyes bugged out like he'd just been told that he needed to make a personal visit to Satan down in his workshop. Naturally it was decided that we would go to Japan to find this Happosai character and make him turn over the long lost Amazon treasures."

"And did you succeed in this?" Mary asked.

"We...kind of got sidetracked," the redhead said with a somewhat sheepish expression, "It's another long story."

"Well, you certainly do seem to be rather full of them," Mary observed with a smile, "Quite a complicated tale you are sharing with me...but I wonder if it might not be a little too complicated. Perhaps some parts should be streamlined and edited down a bit more so that it could fit into a decent Novella..."

"A Novella?" the redhead blinked, "Lady, this is my life we're talking about here! I'm just telling you things the way the actually happened..."

"Just so," Mary made a placating gesture, "It's is just that most people would have quite a hard time of it accepting that you were brought to life by the means of Alchemy and Natural science. The idea of you turning into a woman because of a very different spell...that takes more credulity than I think would be fair under most circumstances."

"Hmm...you may have a point there," the redhead conceded, "But I can't really help it...it ain't my fault these things kept happening to me with out my say so."

"All right then," Mary replied, "What about this Chinese girl you say had pink hair? What became of you both? Did you actually get married?"

"No..." for a moment the redhead looked truly mournful, "We came close, but we never quite tied the knot. She s back home in China now...but for a while we traveled together. The Council thought she ought to be with me just in case we did agree to go steady, and on the way we learned an awful lot about one another. In fact...well...that would be giving away the ending. Let's just say we were...close...and we remain best buddies, even after we separated."

"And what about the creature your father made...this Eve?" Mary wondered.

"Oh yeah...Eve," the redhead rolled her eyes, "Next to Murielle and Beth, she was one gal I'll never quite be able to forget. Seems I had this habit of attracting really weird character into my life..."

"Excuse me," Mary made an appealing gesture and said, "Beth?"

"Elizabeth of Bathroy," the redhead grunted in disgust, "A really twisted lady with a thing about blood...she and the Big D-man were blood kin, though he tries to deny it. You see...being able to turn into a girl has lots of advantages, like when a mob gets it into their head to start chasing me and I need to take a quick powder...but then it also means that every Wolf-man out to score with a cute Riding Hood type like me thinks he can hit on me without asking. And then there was that time I got taken in by that Turkish Sultan...and...well...I'd rather not go there at the moment. The point is...I've had people on my butt for one damned reason or another ever since I was created...some who want to kill me, and some...well...let's just say that Lotion wasn't the only one who started to get these ideas about us being engaged and all that..."

"And what about this Razor fellow you mentioned before?" Mary asked.

"The half-Ogre?" the redhead sniffed, "Strong as an Ox and nearly as intelligent...he was hanging out in this Gypsy caravan when Pops and me happened along to cause all kinds of trouble...not intentionally, of course, but Pops just can't seem to keep himself out of trouble, and he's always dragging me into everything...well...let's just say that Razor wound up with that Curse of the Baba Yaga that he keeps pretending is all my fault, while Murielle-or Misha, as she sometimes calls herself-got engaged to me on a bet...wasn't any too happy about it at the time either, but...well...after a while she started to sort-of get to like me and..."

"Yes, you certainly do seem to know quite a few interesting people," Mary remarked, "But what about the part where she turns into a Werewolf?"

"Oh, she was born that way," the redhead shrugged, "Her people have always been Werewolves...they're like this tribe who wanders around the place living off the land, but they don't try to bother ordinary folks...except during Full Moons, and that's only when some of their boys want to get it on with the local ladies..."

"I thought Werewolves were supposed to be monstrous, slavering, blood thirsty creatures," Mary replied with a raised eyebrow, "You make them sound almost...ordinary..."

"Yeah, well, ordinary for Gypsies anyway," Frank clarified, "But think about it...if you grew up in a tribe of Werewolves disguised as a persecuted minority that's hated and feared throughout most of Europe, wouldn't you try to lay low and avoid the lime light? After all, how much would it cost a village where they prey to invest in some silver bullets?"

"A good point that," Mary conceded, "By all means, please continue."

"Well...maybe I should tell it in order from the point where we left from Joketsuzoku and headed off towards Japan, eventually winding up in Okinawa," the redhead resumed, "And I kid you now, this is the way it REALLY happened..."

Continued.

Comments/Criticisms/Lon Cheney Interviews: shadowmane

So what happens from here? Does the creature get a name, does he find true love (and does he managed to keep any of the royalties for that book that Mary's secretly planning?). Will Genma finally get a ticket Back to the Future, and what of Happosai, the so-called "Demon Martial Arts Master" who founded the Anything Goes system? Tune in next time for this and other questions in, "Where Wolf? There Wolf!" or, "How to Build a Girlfriend in Ten Easy Lessons!" Be there!

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